"SOMETHING SPECIAL WAS CREATED HERE"

Something special was already in the air for those of us who went to meet the participants at the airport. We knew so much about them, had exchanged letters and information for over six months, even had their pictures, but in a way, each of them became "real" only when we saw them safely landed in Geneva.

Women so different from one another, from different countries, backgrounds, occupations, cultures (but wasn't this what the exchange was about?!) and yet with a common goal. They spent two weeks with us in the ISIS office (which already looks crowded on "normal" days). We shared meals and books, we discussed, we discovered together.

The "Orientation Course" was conceived to enable participants to prepare for and learn more about the country and culture to which they were to be going; to give participants a better understanding of women's situations and positive actions internationally, and to provide them with a practical experience in dealing with information and in communication skills.

The women began to arrive in Geneva from the 15th of April on. Each one was met at the airport and provided with a portfolio of practical information about ISIS and Geneva (maps, bus tickets, information on travel, shops, money, etc.) and about the agenda for the orientation course. They were all housed with local women in their own homes.

SHARING

The first step of this exciting business of really getting to know each other, was for each participant to briefly describe her country, the situation of women there, the positive actions of women, the work of her group and its activities. A few participants showed slides to illustrate their talks, some displayed publications, and others just spoke. At the end of each presentation, there was time to ask questions, and often these provoked interesting discussions. This was an enriching experience for everyone. There was many comparisons between different situations, beliefs, strategies, and activities of women. Common problems were identified and so also were the areas of support and solidarity. A better understanding no doubt dawned, and links were forged by shared experiences.

(Details of the presentations are found later in this bulletin. More information about any particular group can be had by writing directly to the group concerned.
The addresses can be found at the back of this issue)

MAKING CONTACT WITH LOCAL WOMEN

But not all the time was devoted to presentations and discussions. Somehow we managed in those incredibly busy two weeks to find the time to visit the local women's group.

Since the CENTRE FEMMES (Women's Centre) was used for both formal and informal activities of the course, the women became familiar with this meeting place for various local women's groups, including the Committee Against Rape, the English Speaking Feminists, a children's play group, the publication Reelles and a few other groups.

There was also a visit to the Centre F Informations, an information centre for women, which deals with practical problems such as legal advice, returning to work, looking for a counsellor, a place to live, a job. The Centre F Informations has also published a resource listing of useful addresses.

In the same building is L'Inedite (the women's bookstore), another source of information on local women's groups and activities

The visit to the Dispensaire des Femmes (women's health centre) was an inside look at women providing health care (gynaecological and pediatric care in both traditional and alternative forms), based on a self-help approach. The Dispensaire also serves as a meeting place for groups of women concerned with a particular health issue - breastfeeding or contraception or menopause, for example. In addition, the users of the Dispensaire, along with various staff, produce the quarterly publication, Bon Sang! (alternative information on women and health).

The visit to the International Centre of Documentation on Prostitution, Aspasie, where participants met and talked with the founder, Griselidis Real, was an eye opener for many. Prior to this visit there was a discussion on prostitution.

Similarly, the visit to the battered women's shelter, Solidarite Femmes en Detresse, included a discussion which stimulated a cross-cultural comparison of the problem of violence against women, the attitudes of law enforcement officials and society in general, and related these to the question of how women's groups can and do respond. Many participants from developing countries were surprised to discover the existence of such problems in the west

"I learned quite a lot, especially about women in other countries and different cultures. I didn't know about things that were happening around the world, and what
I learned about rape, abortion, and prostitution was quite surprising. I hope it has created more awareness in me and that I'll have the chance of sharing these experiences that I have gained in this course with other women in my country."

(Florence)

In addition to the exchange of information on issues and women's initiatives, these visits also afforded the participants the experience - the first for many participants — of observing first hand, groups which operate on a collective, rather than a traditional hierarchical basis.

HOW DO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS RELATE TO THE PROBLEMS OF WOMEN?

1. World Health Organisation

This was a half-day visit arranged in conjunction with the Department of Family Health. The aim was to give participants a brief introduction to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and some of its activities, especially as they relate to women. The presentations made by the WHO staff were followed by discussions and a question-answer session. After this, there was a film on primary health care.

2. Digital Corporation SA

The idea behind the visit was to give participants an exposure to new technology. We felt it would be interesting for participants to visit the headquarters of a major company involved in manufacturing "new technology" - mini-computers, word processors, personal computers, etc. The Digital Corporation was kind enough to provide us with three speakers who gave a brief outline of the company, its approach and a description of some of the machines they make.

This was followed by some practical demonstrations on word processors and personal computers.

Reaction by participants was very mixed. Some were intrigued by the visit, others felt that it was so far away from what they were involved in that it was confusing. Some of the participants expressed the need to have had a discussion on the issue of new technology before we visited Digital.

3. International Labour Organisation

During this half-day visit, participants were taken on a tour of the library and introduced to the library's computerized retrieval system. In a demonstration of this system, participant-proposed key words were used to produce bibliographies on topics related to women and work.

The participants then met with Krishna Patel of the Women's Desk and editor of "Women at Work", who described broadly the work of the ILO in relation to women workers. The participants also met with Rosemary Graves of One Percent for Development, with whom the history and funding activities of One Percent were discussed.

The women expressed pleasure in having discovered through these visits, that the UN organisations were not really beyond their reach, and that even small groups like theirs could be heard.

"CULTURE SHOCK'

One session of the orientation course was devoted to discussing "culture shock", how to deal with differences in culture - language, food, etiquette, and customs. During the course of the discussion, participants exchanged personal experiences in confronting cultural differences such as food, styles of living, and interpersonal relations. For the women traveling outside their country for the first time, the mechanics of travel (money changing, the first plane ride, etc.) were a source of apprehension, additional to that of going to a strange country.

For all of the participants, this discussion was an important one in recognizing that for everyone a change in countries and culture has - apart from its enriching aspects - a disorienting effect. While discussions of this nature cannot prevent culture shock, they do prepare women to recognize it, and thus to cope with it better. It should be mentioned, too, that for the participants the change in culture was considered not only a learning experience but a challenge, the meeting of which resulted in an increase in their self-confidence.

PRACTICAL SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

1. Manual lnformation Retrieval System - OASIS

Three major sessions were spent on a demonstration and practical work on the ISIS/OASIS documentation and information retrieval system. The sessions
were conducted by members of ISIS.

Our demonstration showed firstly how the system can be used for retrieval. For instance, someone looking for information about "sex-tourism" in "Asia" would take the concept cards with those names and, matching them together will find 20 holes going through both cards. This indicates the number of items dealing with sex-tourism in Asia that we have analysed and punched into our system.

If the searcher wishes to narrow the search even more, she can add, for instance, "Asia" as a source descriptor, thus pin-pointing only those items that come from Asia about sex-tourism in Asia.

We did this demonstration with several different combinations of concepts (descriptors), and then participants asked their own questions and made their own searches. Their searches always led them to a number of item cards, or cards carrying bibliographical information about the document plus an abstract and major concept words.

The sessions then continued with detailed study and discussion on the dictionary. This is the set of key words which ISIS has developed to deal specifically with women's issues around the world. It is unique because it has been "tailor-made", using both the content of the documents and the needs as the basis for constructing the dictionary.

The discussion around this was intense. We launched into considerable debate about certain terms and concepts, especially as they relate to developing
country situations. Many participants said the discussion had raised many issues they had never considered before The question of language was one
of the most difficult - it being clear that some concepts exist in certain languages but not in others. The women from Brazil especially found this true.

The subsequent sessions were devoted to practical work on analysing documents. We started all with the same article, so that we could compare and discuss why we had chosen certain descriptors and not others. This also gave practice in filling out an item card and in identifying both source descriptors (author, place, organisation, publisher, etc.) and subject descriptors (what it's about).

Participants were then asked to select five documents from the ISIS resource centre to analyse and abstract for themselves. The final session on OASIS was therefore devoted to looking at this work and further discussion on terms and concepts.

It was clear that, given their different backgrounds and interests, some participants were more interested in the system than others. There were three who were especially interested - Rekha, Beena and Kistna - since they were on an exchange specifically to learn more about documentation systems, and indeed they went on to work directly with the system in ISIS Geneva and ISIS Rome. The others were certainly interested in the possibilities which using such an information system presents, but possibly felt frustrated by the lack of time to really understand and practice the system in depth.

"We have an idea that women in the West are quite liberated. Yet I came here and learned that we have many problems in common after all."

(Rekha)

2. International Feminism

This was a whole-day session held in the women's centre, to which a few outside participants were also invited. A main presentation was given by Charlotte Bunch, from Interfem Consultants, based in New York. Her presentation on International Feminism is reproduced elsewhere in this bulletin.

The presentation gave rise to an animated discussion about many of the issues touching women in different parts of the world. Issues such as health (drug dumping, baby milk, contraceptives), the media (image of women as trivial) and militarism, were particularly discussed.

It was clear that there were divergences in the views expressed, but everyone felt it was most valuable. In fact, it was generally felt that there was not enough time to elaborate in depth on the different issues.

In the evening of the same day, the entire discussion was opened to the local women's community. We made resumes of Charlotte's presentation and the discussion which followed. Local women were particularly interested in what the participants were doing and the situation in their countries. The different local women's groups were also able to describe their activities. To facilitate communication, we provided simultaneous interpretation for this event.

3. Funding

Starting from the hypothesis that many development projects are not self-reliant, we looked at the different ways for women to obtain money:

(a) forming a cooperative

(b) finding outside financial support

(c) raising money by certain activities in order to carry out others (e.g. bake sales, events, etc.)

We examined (b) in detail, covering the following issues: proposal writing, access to and knowledge of funding sources, kinds of donor agencies. Using the ISIS resources, we talked of specific agencies and specific approaches to be taken.

The participants were particularly interested in how ISIS is funded and how we manage financially. We described this in detail. Another example presented in detail was the Dispensaire des Femmes in Geneva (presented by Rina Nissim), which operates as a collective, with subsidies from the City of Geneva. The Dispensaire is also  recognised as a competent medical body by the private health insurance companies in Switzerland. This means that services given by the Dispensaire can be reimbursed by the users' insurance policies.

This session was very successful and was found to be most useful by participants. It is clear that money is one of women's greatest problems wherever they are, and there is much to be done to help women get access to funds, credit, loans, etc., and to information about where to get this access.

The importance of this workshop is revealed by the following comments:

"What's great for me is that the women from ISIS really opened up their stores of funding information — because in Brazil generally some feminists who know these things won't tell anyone else." (Marlene)

"Before, I'd never have thought of doing an independent project with a group of women on our own, that there were so many institutions that might fund us. But now I feel it is possible, that the money isn't so inaccessible - it's been demystified." (Cecilia)

OVER A CUP OF COFFEE

As one participant commented: "Some of the strongest links are those forged over a cup of coffee". The two weeks also contained occasions for participants to relax, have informal discussions, go out sightseeing, meet and have fun together and with others. Often, links already made need to be cemented through informal cultural exchanges, shared jokes and fun, occasions where people are relaxed, and it is possible to know one another better.

The course began with an informal (women with whom they were staying). Later in the week there was an "international pot-luck dinner" prepared by the women of ISIS. Another evening the participants attended a reception given by the International Union of Food and Allied Workers for their Conference on Women Workers. There was an evening at the Women's Centre for the participants to meet with local women.

ISIS also arranged the Swiss Alps and to Montreux, a lake-side resort. One woman was traveling by train for the first time, several had never seen snow before - these form just a small part of the numerous "first times" there were for everyone.

One of the highlights of the final days was another "International pot-luck dinner"; this time it was the participants who prepared it. There was general agreement that it was one of the best meals ever tasted. Recipes were exchanged, and there was some talk of making a collection and publishing it one day.

On the last afternoon together, ISIS gave a "farewell" lunch for the women. There was sadness at the thought of parting and yet a tremendous feeling of hope and solidarity, which are beautifully expressed by the following quotations: I've met people who behave like sisters and I've felt very much at home".

(Florence)

"It's been a fantastic experience — so incredibly inspiring in what you've achieved.... thank you for changing our lives so dramatically and so warmly."

(Edith)

LEARNING INFORMALLY

Informal and private discussions played an important role in the sharing and learning process that took place during the programme. For many participants, the orientation course afforded the first personal experience they had had with the visible participation of lesbians in the women's movement and with the existence of an autonomous lesbian movement. This stimulated some participants to initiating discussions about lesbianism and the relation between lesbianism and feminism.

There were other discussions on the importance of an autonomous women's movement: the relations between feminists and men, and more specifically of heterosexual women and men in their personal lives; the role of men in the liberation of women; how feminists see women and men working together in groups organising for social change.

A NEW ERA IN INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY AMONG WOMEN

The final morning of the orientation course was devoted to a session of evaluation. There were many positive comments about the course generally; the women felt not only an eager anticipation of their stays in other countries, but also felt the course was an important element in developing international links between women.

The quotations throughout this article are just a few of the comments made by participants. In many ways, Kistna summed up what we all felt:   

   "We are here to build a new era in international solidarity among women. Until now international contact has been the work of an elite — through this programme we are trying to build another way of international exchange - that is, on the grassroot level."